Shopsmith Forums

richardrouse wrote:How did you get it so darn shiney?? That is absolutely beautiful!

TomH wrote:That is beautiful!!! Only one comment...your shop and lathe look too darn clean!

Thanks guys! Richard, I got it that shiny mostly by grabbing the can of gloss Minwax wipe-on poly off of my finish-supplies shelf. I usually prefer the satin, but the buckeye burl just seemed like a good candidate for the high-gloss formula. I figured that if my hunch was wrong, a topcoat of the satin would take care of that, quick & easy.

And Tom, you gave me a perfect segue into a secondary issue. That Dust Deputy you can see in the photos is hooked up to a Ridgid vac sporting both a filter bag on the input end and a HEPA cannister filter on the output. Before finishing the handle, I used said vac to clean everything nearby with the round dusting-brush tool. I've gotta believe that helped in building a blemish-free finish.

Gloss wipe-on poly and cleanliness, combined with knocking down high spots with 400-grit sandpaper every few coats (as mentioned earlier, with the vac Hoovering up the resulting sanding dust in real time), is the entire recipe for the secret sauce. Honest. Oh, yea, to apply the finish, I used some applicator cloths from HD; they appeared to be cut from ordinary T-shirt fabric.

I've gotta invest in dust collection. My shop is dusty as all heck.

I'll have to try the high gloss wipe on poly for my next project to see how it turns out. My next project is a travel mug sleave for my wife. She's already told me she wants it soft and shiney.